Jack of Many Trades

I've Been Trying To Write This Post For A Week And A Half

Originally posted: 2020-05-03

I feel like I can't catch my breath. But like metaphorically, physically I think I'm fine. I'm not working six days a week anymore, yay.

We're doing Sunday Afternoon Art, so I'm still watercoloring on a weekly basis. I finally got the last of the unopened boxes opened and most of the dolls are on display. I hung shelves, and some art.

Sometimes I'm useless and sometimes I'm restless. I'm trying to funnel the restless into productiveness.

What Parts of "Normal" Are Worth Getting Back To?

This moment in time provides us all with a lot of challenges, but with a unique opportunity to step back and really question what we’re doing. For as long as this moment lasts, keep asking yourself what was good about the old normal that you want to keep, what was bad about the old normal that you want to discard, and what about this current moment do you want to hold onto.

Mutual Aid for the End of the World

Aus started teaching the GOAT (Get Out Alive, Together!) workshop series in Toronto in 2016, in response to the overwhelming number of people teaching survival and disaster-preparedness skills from a right-wing, individualist perspective. GOAT is rooted in principles of mutual aid and collaboration, with a focus on marginalized identities – centring the people who mainstream disaster narratives often paint out of the picture, portray as a threat, or assume would succumb to the Darwinian logic of “survival of the fittest.”

GOAT workshops are being offered online now and I really want to check one out when I have the time.

Working from home can be magical

I’ve learned to reframe “procrastination” as “marination.” I used to feel guilty about putting off large tasks, but the fact is that I’m constantly thinking about and examining those tasks while I avoid working on them. Deadline pressure helps me focus, and by the time I’m ready to start working on it, I find I’ve already planned it out, mostly subconsciously, during my marination time. Again, that might not work for anyone but me, but seeing it that way has saved me a lot of guilt.

Mostly doesn't apply to me anyway but I feel like I've come across the idea of marination and/or embracing that there are fallow times a lot lately, and it's very helpful for me to think about it as a choice I make listening to myself.

I didn't get around to posting the last poem before April ended.